Chapter 9, Separatism Unleashed Summary and Analysis

Winthrop holds the reins of government lightly, despite striking down sin. However, he deals moderately with the separatists and people get along. When Dudley comes to power and John Haynes and Henry Vane, after him, things change, as they are filled with zeal and politically foolish. Separatism threatens the colony and if Winthrop's successors push too hard, the colony will break. The migration is bringing in many new people who are willing to stand up to the government, including, notoriously, Roger Williams.

Williams has lived in Massachusetts Bay as long as Winthrop. He is a young Cambridge man, studying divinity, when he decides to make his trip, leaving for Massachusetts in the spring of 1630. When he arrives, he takes over a congregation for a pastor who is returned home and he is a committed separatist. He is...